The Deep End, Part 4: Force Projection

Tony Stark, the new Secretary of Defense, had come to Iraq to investigate the disappearance of troops in the northern region of the country.[1] There he discovers that a former chemical weapons expert codenamed Vitriol has becomes the symbiotic host for a metal eating bacteria that excretes acid. Tony’s Iron Man armor has been completely destroyed, and now Vitrol — believing herself to be the reincarnation of Ishtar — and her folowers are bringing a supply of the bacteria to Iraqi’s primary water source.

Now, Baghdad is crumbling as the water supply has been tainted by the acid. American soldiers have retreated to the airport where they listen to reports of the city falling down around them. Eventually, command sends a bomber to drop a nuclear bomb on the city in order to contain the destruction.

Luckily, the destruction of Baghdad was just a dream brought on after Tony Stark was knocked out by Force, the man sent to rescue Stark and his team. Force — aka Carl Warlker — wants revenge against Tony Stark for ratting him out. Tony has no idea what Carl is talking about, reminding Walker how he saved him from Justin Hammer.[2] Carl explains that in recent years he worked for Barstow Electronics, a cushy job with a lot of government contracts. He lived content for years until Sonny Burch came around. Somehow Burch knew about Carl’s criminal past and threatened to expose him unless he helped refurbish old suits of Iron Man armor. Burch claimed that Stark ratted him out. With a wife and two kids, Carl feared losing his new life and was forced to slave for Burch for two whole years.[3]

However, even without his armor, Tony Stark isn’t completely helpless. He uses a walkie talkie to lure Force into the temple. There, he and one of the soldiers ambush him from behind and place a bag over his head and retreat. Panicking, Force unleashes a powerful blast that brings the temple collapsing on top of him. Pinned under the rubble, Tony removes Carl’s mask so they can talk face-to-face. Tony insists that he didn’t rat him out to Sonny Burch. He reminds Carl that LAPD once booked him when he was a criminal. When the Pentagon hires people they do security checks. Burch likely connected Carl Walker with Clayton Wilson and used that information against him. This convinces Force that Tony is telling the truth.

After digging Force out, Tony and his team try to figure out where the two tankers are going. They determine that one of them is a decoy and the one truck heading to for Tigris. They send Force ahead to try and stop it, leading to a fight with Vitriol. Tony Stark is picked up by a helicopter and brought in close. However, when tone chopper is hit with the acid and crashes into the back of the tanker, it knocks Force off the vehicle. Tony leaps off the second and onto the back of the tanker. He tries to reason with Leyla, however nothing he can say can convince her to give up her mad scheme. Soon, they run out of time as the truck smashes through a guard rail to get to the river below.

Tony bails out, and calls in an airstrike to blow up Leyla and the tanker. She boasts that a bomb won’t stop her and that she is about to succeed in wiping out all her enemies. However, she doesn’t anticipate that the bomb being dropped on her is filled with milk of magnesia, which neutralizes the acid.[4] Soon, the other tanker has been stopped and the entire supply of the acid is neutralized. However, search of the water has not turned up Vitriol’s body.

Returning to Baghdad, Tony has gained a new perspective and promises to devote his time in Iraq to rebuilding the right way. However, just as he is about to meet with officials to discuss plans, Tony gets an important phone call about a new crisis. One so huge, that he has to take the next plane back to America.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Force, Vitriol

Continuity Notes

1. For the whole story on how Tony Stark became Secretary of Defense, see Iron Man (vol. 3) #73-78.

2. Force was previously known as Clayton Wilson. Following the events of Iron Man #222-224, Tony helped Clayton get out of a life of crime and the wrath of Justin Hammer by setting him up with a new identity and a job. Tony last interacted with him with “Carl Walker” back in Iron Man #300.

3. When Tony Stark revealed his identity to the public in Iron Man (vol. 3) #55, it gave Sonny Burch a legal loophole to exploit to unseal old top secret Stark weapon designs. He also got ahold of old Iron Man suits (in storage since Iron Man #107) and attempted to refurbish them. See issues #73 through 78 (again) for the details.

4. Time of this writing (April, 2023), Vitriol is still considered among the deceased.

Topical References

• This story was written during the early days of the War on Terror and the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan that were in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. As such, a lot of the attitudes and depictions of the United States government are influenced by this particular point in time. While these themes are merely implied, they should be considered topical.

• That said, the story is rooted as taking place in and around Iraq. This fact cannot be changed without altering the story. Modern readers should interpret this story as taking place in Iraq, although not during the conflict that took place between 2003 and 2011. One could assume that this is a conflict unique to the fiction, much in the same way that Marvel has created the Sin-Cong Conflict to stand in for Modern Age stories that were written during and featuring the Vietnam War.

• Leyla/Vitriol/Ishtar’s backstory is depicted as taking place in the late 80s, early 90s, during the Gulf War. Last issue we heard characters who had been investigating Vitrol in the past. As they are Modern Age characters who don’t appear to have extended lifespans, then by association Leyla must also be a similar character. As such all references to her past taking place during a specific period and the real world conflicts should all be considered topical references. Modern readers should interpret this to be a conflict that took place in the Middle East that is unique to the fiction. Leyla’s backstory happened 15 and 11 years prior to the main story instead of a specific year.

• When they determine the trucks going to Euphrates is a decoy, the soldier who figures it out quips that he learned this from Lawrence of Arabia on DVD. This joke is a topical reference, but not for the reason you think. Lawrence of Arabia isa 1962 historical drama based on real life explorer T.E. Lawrence. It is considered classic cinema. That’s not topical. What is, is reference to DVD, which was just becoming a commonly used media format when this series was first published. While you can still get DVDs now, they are slowly falling out of use due to new formats and streaming options.